The Sweet Life

Seems cream puffs are all the rage these days. At least among the chefs I admire. I remembered something from my days back at Trump when my pastry chef Hichem was working on  pate a choux with a "streusel" top. He had conversations with a French chef, and experimented at work. I'm not sure if he was testing the other chef's recipes, or if they were sharing ideas and working on a technique. But in any event, I used this technique for my Raspberry Cream Puff, one of the new desserts at AIC. I got the recipe, which I call cassonade dough, from a French recipe. I rather like these, though they're becoming more commonplace at many bakeries and restaurants across the US. But at least I can say that I was a witness during the development stage! Raspberry Cream Puff Raspberry Cream, Lemon Curd, St Germain Chia Seeds,  Micro Lemon Balm, Freeze-Dried Raspberries

Baking cookies for a bake sale. Instead of baking something new, I'm going back to cookies I baked last Christmas for friends. I can't recall where exactly I got this recipe, but I'm sure if I wasn't lazy, I could do a "Google" and find the original and tell you where I got it. But, seeing that it is 12:22 and I've only my second dozen cookies in the oven and that I haven't been feeling too well lately, I'm hoping that you'll let me off the hook. In any event, the recipe isn't mine, and the idea isn't original, but I'm filling the "thumbprints" with ganache, and a brandied cherry half-the cherries I brandied myself a couple of years ago. 226  grams butter 272 grams sugar 1 tsp vanilla paste 40  grams yolks 115 grams Dutch cocoa 2 tsp salt 272 grams flour 30  grams cream Cream together room temperature butter and sugar, with vanilla paste. Add yolks, scraping after adding and mix until incorpo

Milk Tea Mousse, milk chocolate almond biscuit, sesame streusel, blackberries, micro lemon basil, bubble sugar I made this for the Woman's Board lunch on Tuesday. I will be serving it this Thursday as a dessert option in the Member's Lounge. I'll be adding a sauce, either blackberry, or a tea caramel (or blackberry tea caramel?). This dessert replaced another one they originally wanted; they grew tired of creme brulees. I used to drink milk tea when I visited Chinatown with my friend, and so, it evolved into a dessert. I tried to think of many ways to keep a pure tea taste and ended up using one of my white chocolate mousse recipes. Worked out very well. Once I get the sauce down, I'll repost another photo.